Transcript Lecture 13 - Human Language

What Is Language?
• Muscle movements
• Sound production
• Phones
• Phonemes
• Morphemes
• Words:
– learned one at a time
• Sentences:
– not learned one at a time
Basic requisite of a
grammar:
How to explain the ability to
create an infinite number of
sentences from a finite number
of words?
Chained Behavior
(Bar Pressing):
D
D/r
D/r
D/r
R
Objections To Chaining Theory
• Finite-state grammar
•Transitional probabilities say nothing
about meaning
•Embedding
•Ambiguous sentences
How would Chaining Theory
explain the following sentence?
“That man has eaten the bread.”
Example:
“The man has eaten the bread.”
Example: "That man has eaten the bread."
this
that
the
some
a ...
man
person
boy ...
this
that
the
some
a ...
has
bread
book
brought
cut
eaten
Start
or
these
those
some
men
boys
people
have
Stop
these
those
some
banks
bread
Possible sequences that can be
generated from “words”, A, B & C:
Without replacement:
A
B
C
A
C
B
B
A
C
B
C
A
C
A
B
C
B
A
With replacement:
A AA
BAA
CAA
A AB
BAB
CBB
A AC
BAC
CAC
A BA
BBA
CBA
ABB
BBB
CBB
ABC
BBC
CBC
A CA
BCA
CCA
ACB
BBB
CCB
ACC
BCC
CCC
Number of 3-word sentences = 33 = 27
Suppose we considered 10 word sentences.
1
2 3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
A
A A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
B
B B
B
B
B
B
B
B
B
C
C C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 310 =
59, 049 different sentences.
Suppose we arbitrarily restrict language to
sentences of 10 words…
•There are 450,000 English words
•Number of 2-word sentences: (450,000)2 = 202,000,000,000 = 211
•Number of 3-word sentences: (450,000)3 = 91,125,000,000,000,000
= 9115.
•Consider only grammatical sentences.
•Assume only one in a million was grammatical. i.e., 106.
•There would then be only 91,125, 000, 000 = 919 grammatical
sentences.
•Suppose we read one word/sec., reading at a rate of 24 hrs/day,
365 days/year, it would take 2,887 years to read all possible threeword sentences. Four-word sentences: 1,299,150,000 years.
Objections To Chaining Theory
• Finite-state grammar
• Transitional probabilities say nothing
about meaning
Meaningless Sequences Of
Words:
“Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”
“Goes down here is not large feet are
the happy days.”
Objections To Chaining Theory
• Finite-state grammar
• Transitional probabilities say nothing
about meaning
• Embedding
Embedded Sentences
• The girl sat down.
• The girl who wore a hat sat down.
• The girl who wore a hat who smiled sat down.
• The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold sat
down.
• The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold who
missed the train sat down.
• The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold who
missed the train who got a new job sat down.
Embedded Sentences
• The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold
who missed the train who got a new job who loves
jazz sat down.
•The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold
who missed the train who got a new job who loves jazz
who makes the best apple pie sat down.
•The girl who wore a hat who smiled who had a cold
who missed the train who got a new job who loves jazz
who makes the best apple pie whose cousin went to
Japan sat down.
Objections To Chaining Theory
• Finite-state grammar
• Transitional probabilities say nothing
about meaning
• Embedding
• Ambiguous sentences
Ambiguous Sentence
Meaning 1
Meaning 2
Form
The hunters shot Someone shot
something.
the hunters.
The shooting of
the hunters
Paraphrase
Meaning 1
Form 1
The detective saw the accident
Form 2
The detective
saw the
accident.
The accident
was seen by
the detective
Phrase-structure Grammar
How is a sentence like,
“The boy hit the ball.”
generated?
Constituents of
"The Boy Hit The Ball."
"the" =
article =
T
"boy" =
noun =
N
"hit" =
verb =
V
"the boy" =
noun phrase =
NP
"hit the ball" =
verb phrase =
VP
"the ball" =
noun phrase =
NP
The
T
boy
hit
N
the
ball
T
N
V
NP
NP
VP
Sentence: They Are Shooting Hunters
Noun
Verb
Noun
Phrase
Phrase
Phrase
Noun
Verb
They
are
Adj
Noun
shooting hunters
Noun
Verb
Noun
Phrase
Phrase
Phrase
Noun
Verb
Auxiliary
Noun
They
are
shooting
hunters
Sentence: They Are Shooting Hunters
1
2
Equivalent Sentences
• Did the boy read the book?
• Which book did the boy read?
• The boy hadn't read the book.
• Hadn't the boy read the book?
• Will the boy read the book?, etc.
Example Of A Transformation
active 
passive  interrogative
The boy hit the ball 
What did the boy hit?
The boy hit the ball 
What did the boy hit?
The boy hit what? 
Transformational Grammar
Example 1:
• The Boy Hit The Ball.
• What Did The Boy Hit?
(1) The boy hit the ball.
(2) The boy hit what?
(3)
What did the boy hit?
• Where did "did" come from? "What the boy hit"
needs dummy auxiliary
Transformational Grammar
Example 2:
• THE BOY HAD HIT THE BALL.
• WHAT HAD THE BOY HIT?
(1) The boy had hit what?
(2) What the boy had hit?
(3) What had the boy hit?
"the boy had"
"had the boy" (transposition)
Kernel Sentences
1.The old woman was warned by Joe.
__The small boy wasn’t warned by John.
2.The small boy wasn’t liked by Joe.
__The old woman wasn’t warned by Jane.
3.The young man was liked by John.
__The young man was warned by Jane.
4.The old woman wasn’t liked by Joe.
__The old woman wasn’t warned by Joe
5.The young man wasn’t warned by Jane.__The old woman was liked by John.
6.The small boy was liked by Jane.
__The small boy wasn’t liked by John.
7.The young man wasn’t liked by Jane.
__The young man wasn’t warned by John.
8.The old woman was warned by Jane.
__The old woman was warned by Joe.
Kernel Sentences (con’t.)
9.The small boy wasn’t warned by Joe.
__ The young man wasn’t warned by Joe.
10.The small boy was warned by John.
__ The small boy was warned by Joe.
11.The young man was warned by John.
__ The small boy was warned by Joe.
12.The small boy wasn’t warned by Jane. __ The small boy wasn’t like by Jane.
13.The small boy was liked by John.
__ The young man wasn’t liked by John.
14.The young man wasn’t liked by Joe.
__ The young man was liked by Jane.
15.The young man was warned by Joe.
__ The old woman was liked by Joe.
16.The old woman was liked by Jane.
__ The old woman wasn’t liked by Jane.
17.The old woman wasn’t liked by John.
__ The small boy was liked by Joe.
18.The old woman wasn’t warned by John. __ The young man was liked by Joe.
1. The old woman was warned by Joe.
2. The small boy wasn’t liked by Joe.
3. The young man was liked by John.
4. The old woman wasn’t liked by Joe.
5. The young man wasn’t warned by Jane.
6. The small boy was liked by Jane.
7. The young man wasn’t liked by Jane.
8. The old woman was warned by Jane.
9. The small boy wasn’t warned by Joe.
11. The young man was warned by John.
12. The small boy wasn’t warned by Jane.
13. The small boy was liked by John.
14. The young man wasn’t liked by Joe.
15. The young man was warned by Joe.
16. The old woman was liked by Jane.
17. The old woman wasn’t liked by John.
18. The old woman wasn’t warned by John.
10 The small boy wasn’t warned by John.
8 The old woman wasn’t warned by Jane.
5 The young man was warned by Jane.
1 The old woman wasn’t warned by Joe
17 The old woman was liked by John.
13 The small boy wasn’t liked by John.
11 The young man wasn’t warned by John.
18 The old woman was warned by Joe.
19 The small boy was warned by Joe.
12 The small boy was warned by Joe.
6 The small boy wasn’t like by Jane.
3 The young man wasn’t liked by John.
7 The young man was liked by Jane.
4 The old woman was liked by Joe.
16 The old woman wasn’t liked by Jane.
]2 The small boy was liked by Joe.
14 The young man was liked by Joe.
Is Transformational Grammar Psychologically Real?
N
Sentence types that can be
formed with kernel sentences
(K), negatives (N), passives (P),
and passive-negatives (PN).
PN
K
P
PN
K
P
Time for average
subject (secs.)
Test
condition
K :N
P : PN
K :P
PN : N
K : PN
N: P
N
Experimental
Control
8.0
10.5
7.4
8.9
8.7
10.7
6.9
9.3
5.9
7.1
6.0
7.2
Estimated
transformation
times (secs.)
1.1
1.2
1.5
1.8
2.7
3.5
STAGES OF LEARNING SIMPLE
PAST TENSE
1
2
3
4
WALK
PLAY
NEED
WALKED
WALKEDeD
PLAYED
PLAYEDeD
NEED
NEEDeD
5
6
WALKED
WALKED
PLAYED
PLAYED
NEEDED
NEEDED
COME
CAME
COMED
CAMEDeD
COMEDeD
COMED
CAME
GO
WENT
GOED
GOED
WENTeD
GOED
WENT
Acquisition Order
The order in which children acquire some English inflectional
suffixes and function words
Item
Present progressive: ing
Preposition: in
Preposition: on
Plural: -s
Past irregular: e.g., went
Possessive: -’s
Uncontractible copula be:
e.g., are, was
Example
He is sitting down.
The mouse is in the box.
The book is on the table.
The dogs ran away.
The boys went home.
The girl’s dog is big.
Are they boys or girls?
Was that a dog?
Acquisition Order, cont’d
Articles: the, a, an
Past regular: -ed
Third person regular: -s
Third person irregular:
e.g., has, does
Uncontractible copula be:
e.g., is, were
Contractible copula be:
e.g., ‘s, -’re
Contractible auxiliary be:
e.g., -’s, -’re
He has a book.
He jumped the stream.
She runs fast.
Does the dog bark?
Is he running?
Were they at home?
That’s a spaniel.
They’re pretty.
He’s doing it.
They’re running slowly.
How Does A Child Learn Language?
CHOMSKY:
- LANGUAGE ACQUISITION DEVICE (LAD)
BRUNER:
- LANGUAGE ACQUISITION SUPPORT
SYSTEM (LASS)
Peek-A-Boo
Acquisition of Language
*Grammar (Syntax)
*Meaning (Semantics)
*Function (Pragmatics)
Antecedents Of Language
Cognitive:
Cognitive maps
Serial Expertise
Tool use
Social:
Learning through imitation
Social knowledge
Joint attention
Deception
Language Areas Of The Brain
Motor Cortex: Representation
Of Body Parts (Monkey)
Motor Cortex:
Representation
Of Body Parts
(Human)
Language Areas Of The Brain
DESCRIPTION OF TEST PICTURE: In this picture, a man
has just run out of his house to remonstrate with a girl
passerby, thinking that she must be responsible for his
broken window. We also see a boy in baseball garb
hiding behind a fence and can reasonably assume that
he, not the girl, is the culprit.
Broca’s patient:
- Like the door...crash...like,
pants...shirt...shoes...the boy...the dress...I
dunno.
Wernicke’s patient:
• This guy did something, right here...He
ran...and she’s there like she didn’t even
know. (Tester: “Who broke it?”) She would
never do it-she looks like a really nice kid.
He’s really getting mad (pointing to the
man)...He did it (pointing to the boy); he
broke it. (Tester: “How?”) I can’t tell you
but I know what it is....
Human Vocal Tract
Split Brain
Split Brain Test
Behavioral And Cognitive Psychology
• Behavioral unit of analysis:
– SD: RSR
• Problems with behaviorist approach:
– Performance underestimates knowledge
– Children do not have to be taught to refer.
• Problems with cognitive approach:
– How is knowledge measured?